Hideaway
by LanieSullivan
Summary: Response to the challenge: In the story, have a character say: What else can happen? Word count: 2500 or less. Set during Stemwinder, Part 2 and possibly AU depending on your POV on the endless "did they or didn't they" debate. Rated M for a reason.


Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot is mine, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Response to a challenge In the story, have a character say: What else can happen? Word count: 2500 or less.

Amanda lay as still as she could so as not to disturb Lee who was lying behind her with an arm lazily draped around her waist as she tried unsuccessfully to sleep on the lumpy hide-a-bed mattress. However, it wasn't the uncomfortable bed keeping sleep eluding her. That was a welcome change from the cardboard box of the night before. No, tonight it was her tortured thoughts keeping her awake. She'd closed her eyes many times and tried to block it all out, but it just wasn't working. She couldn't make her mind shut down enough to rest.

The events of the past few days could be described as nothing less than hellish. In the past week, she'd been forced to endure eavesdropping while the man she loved had to pretend to be falling for another woman, had to listen to him pretending to seduce her...she shuddered at the memory of that alone. Things had begin to quickly get worse from there. They'd both thought they were on the verge of ending that horrible charade that had put so much tension between them and put such a strain on their personal relationship. Only they had found that while they were playing Sonja, she was playing them.

She sighed and pulled the thin blanket up to her chin at the thought of the chain of events that had led them to where they were now. Lee had been betrayed by Sonja, labeled a traitor and a murderer and she, an accomplice by their own people. She'd been interrogated as if she were a common criminal by the very people she'd worked with and trusted for three years and that Lee had trusted for even longer. Her home was no longer the safe haven that it once was as it was now swarming with federal agents out for blood...hers and Lee's

Her home...that was the worst part of all. She'd had to abandon her home and her children with no warning and no explanation. What must they be thinking? It was bad enough for her boys that their father had repeatedly bailed on them, but she...she had always been the stable one; the one parent that they could always count on to be there. Now, ironically, Joe was the one who was there when she wasn't; fulfilling the role that she usually did.

She shook her head and muttered, "What else can happen?"

"Hey," Lee whispered into her ear as his arms tightened around her.

"Oh, hey," she replied softly as she turned to face him. "Sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't," he assured her as he brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "I can't sleep either."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Why didn't you?" he countered with a mischievous grin trying to lighten the mood a bit to lift the grim expression from her face.

"Because I thought you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you," she explained.

"And I thought the same thing," He responded as he pulled her closer in a comforting embrace.

"I...um...I'm just...you know...a little scared."

"I know you are." He brushed a light kiss to her forehead. "But we are going to get through this."

"You don't know that," she argued more pessimistically than was normal for her.

"Are you doubting us? You and me? Because I thought..." He trailed off, trying not to think the unthinkable.

"No, Lee." She shook her head and repeated, "No. I just..." She let out a sigh. "I just...I'm scared, okay? For as much as we've been through, we've never been in a spot quite this bad before. We've always had the agency behind us. I've always had my family to go home to and they were my strength just like the agency was yours and-"

"Hey," he pulled her further into his arms and held her to him to ease her fears. "I know it's hard, but right now we just have to be each other's strength and even though we've never quite been in this situation before that's something we're good at, right?" He smiled warmly at her.

"Yes, yes we are," She replied with a firm nod, perking up a bit. She planted a quick kiss to his lips. "I love you." She leaned into his solid embrace, feeling warmed and comforted by his light touch on her as she lay her head on his chest.

Lee held her tightly. "I love you, too," he replied and kissed the top of her head. Amanda picked her head up to look at him. At her intense scrutiny, he couldn't help asking, "What?"

"I...I...um...I just can't help thinking. What if we don't get out of this. I mean, we just finally both admitted that there's something real between us and to never have a chance to act on it or to see where it leads, what our future might hold... Well, that just...just seems like such a waste. We wasted so much time." She swallowed hard as she tried to blink back the tears that had formed at the thought of all the missed opportunities. She decided the time was now to seize the moment and kissed him fiercely.

Lee gave into her demanding lips on his for a moment, but sensing her intent, he pulled back and shook his head. "Amanda, no," he stated firmly. "That's not what you need right now." As much as he wanted her, he wouldn't take advantage of her in a vulnerable state.

"Yes, Lee, it is." She pressed her lips softly to his. "I need you." She lightly caressed his face. "We've wasted so much time in trying to pretend there was nothing between us when we both knew better and I..."

"I know," he answered her as he cupped her face. "And I'm not saying that I don't want you. God only knows how many times I've fantasized about what it would be like with you, but when we do make love, I want it to be for the right reasons. I've made so many mistakes in my past and I can't go down that road with you. You're too special to me."

"Lee," she whispered softly. "You said you love me. Well, I love you as well and I've thought about it and thought about it and the more that I think about it, the more I think that with all that's going on, there just may not be a better time than right now." She then pressed the full length of her body against his and once again began nipping at his lips with her own, teasing him with her tongue.

"Amanda..." he argued weakly. "No, not like this. It wouldn't be right."

"Don't," she whispered with one finger to his lips. "Please..." She then lightly stroked his cheek then slid her hand behind his neck to pull him to her, their lips meeting again.

Any thought of protesting further was banished as Lee gave into his desire for her, his raw need for her as he opened his mouth under her onslaught and snaked his hand behind her head, capturing a handful of her dark curls. He'd never admit it to her, but he was in a great need for some comfort himself because he was just as scared as she was. He reached for the hem of her cotton gown, the one he'd bought for her with his insurance money since she'd left her home for him with only the clothes on her back and broke their kiss long enough to pull it over her head.

"Amanda," he growled low as he took in the sight of her nearly-nude form above him just as she began working loose the buttons of his pajama shirt and planted warm, soft kisses on each new patch of flesh that she exposed. Once she had it fully unbuttoned she moved back to his mouth and tenderly kissed him.

The tenderness of that kiss didn't last for long. What began as a soft, longing kiss turned into a fiery clash of mouths and tongues as Lee wrapped one arm around her neck pulling her head down to deepen the kiss, his desire for her deepening as her bared breasts pressed against his chest and he let out a loan groan as he felt Amanda's hand slip into his pajama pants to caress him. She tugged at the drawstring of said pants in an attempt to remove them, but was thwarted by their position and she let out a frustrated sigh.

"Here, let me," He said as he gently rolled her to the side and shucked his pajama pants and underwear, tossing them aside before rejoining her in the rickety bed, rolling her onto her back as they resumed their activities.

Their sighs and moans mingled as they kissed furiously and their hands roamed, exploring each other's bodies. Lee lowered his lips to nip at the tender skin of her neck, then trailed kisses downward before taking one hardened nipple in his mouth, gently tugging at it with his teeth before moving on to the other, Amanda's reactions guiding him. He continued his journey downward, down her torso to her stomach, pausing long enough to hook his fingers into the sides of her panties and slide them down her long legs.

He shifted positions slightly as he parted her thighs, placing a tender kiss inside each one, pausing again to look up into her eyes. At seeing them dancing with anticipation, he lowered his head to taste her, his arousal heightened by the scent of hers, by her sighs as he took her swollen nub into his mouth suckling her as her sighs turned into loud moans.

"Lee," Amanda hissed as she clutched his head sliding her hands through his thick, silky hair, cradling him to her as he devoured her. Her heart soared as the sensations intensified, having worried all this week that she'd never have this with him with someone like Sonja Chenko around; that like so many other women in his past, she would become a distant memory, Francine's words about her being his lover had haunted her. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably at the intensity of the sensations he was creating, her cries became louder, and she screamed his name, closing her eyes against the raging fire that burned through her. Before opening them again, she felt him withdrawing his head from her hands and sliding inside her. Her eyes snapped open.

"That's it, Amanda," Lee said as he linked his hands with hers. "Look at me." He pushed deeper into her never taking his eyes off of hers as she raised her knees up to allow him deeper entrance, pushing her hips up against his to encourage him. "Oh, yes," he groaned at the feeling of filling her again, happiness flooding through him that she'd forgiven him for his dalliance with Sonja, secure in the knowledge that she'd realized that he'd had no say-so in the matter. She couldn't still be upset about it if she could have followed him so willingly, abandoning her family in the process or give herself so fully to him after all of that and letting himself be duped by the Russian vixen. "Amanda,' he whispered low as they moved together, advancing and retreating, pushing and pulling until he soon could no longer hold back and felt himself erupting within her, crying out her name, just as he heard her crying out his.

They silently lay entwined together, the only sounds in the room their heavy breathing as they gazed at one another while coming down from their mutual high, their eyes never leaving one another's. When he could breathe normally again, Lee grinned smugly at her and questioned, "So, what was that you said before? 'What else can happen?'"


End file.
